How to Dispute Inaccurate Information in Your Credit Report

If you’re planning on applying for community mortgage loans or any type of loan for that matter, you have to make sure your credit report is immaculate — meaning error-free. Otherwise, you’ll need to have it corrected before you pass it on to prospective lenders. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, it is the job of both the organization that delivered the inaccurate information to the credit reporting bureau and the credit bureau itself to correct incomplete information or inaccuracies in your credit report.

Disputing Inaccurate Credit Report Information

First off, you should inform the credit bureau of the inaccurate information. They should investigate your claim within 30 days at most unless they don’t believe that your dispute is reliable. You must include copies of documents to support your claim and a letter containing the following:

Every single item you want them to correct.

The reason for your disputing the information.

Your request for correction of deletion.

It’s also a good idea to send them a copy of your credit report, with all the erroneous information circled or highlighted. Send the letter via certified mail with a request for a return receipt so that you’ll have proof of their acceptance and make copies of all relevant documents, including all correspondences.

Next, send a letter to the organization who provided the inaccurate information to explain that you’re disputing the erroneous information it reported to the credit bureau. Your letter should include copies of relevant documents to support your dispute. In the event that it reports the same inaccurate information to credit bureaus, they should include it with your dispute claim. Likewise, request that the organization copy you on all relevant correspondences. This entire process typically takes 30 to 90 days.

Other Crucial Things You Should Know

In the majority of states, you might qualify to obtain a free credit report from the bureau that reported the inaccurate information, upon the registration of the dispute, so that you could verify that the information has been updated — but make sure to confirm with them first. In addition, in case the provider continues to provide the erroneous information to credit bureaus, it should inform the bureau of your dispute. In the event that your dispute is correct, the provider should tell the credit bureau to either delete or update the inaccuracies.